Motorcycle Mania in Athens and more...

June 30, 2012 (Saturday)

Greece/Turkey Trip

Today, we slept in and then had a nice breakfast at the Attalos hotel.  Of course, still no luggage... on with our day -- we walked down the block and bought some fresh fruit to take with us on today's adventure.

A whole block of fruit/vegetable stands with people making their daily purchases.

We headed out into Athens traffic and knew right away that anyone who drove a motorcycle was absolutely crazy… it was as if "they" had “NO” traffic laws!!  They were like ants going everywhere!!  There would be 1 or 2 and sometimes 3 people on a cycle… and they were of all ages.  Some are little old ladies riding on back of little old ladies;  girls, guys one and all, and some ladies were in dresses too!

While sitting at a traffic light in line, the motorcycles would just drive between the lanes of traffic as if there were another lane there… but in reality most streets were so crowded that you couldn’t open your door without hitting a car in the lane next to you. In fact many of the cars had their mirrors knocked off!   The cyclists were not picky on which side of your car they passed you on either… sometimes they would pass us on both sides… AT THE SAME TIME!  I know you think I am exaggerating, but I am not!  Some of them wore helmets and then some of them didn’t have a brain enough to do so.

Add caption

Looking at the picture above, you can see the cycle with the red/white trunk… they passed between the two yellow taxis!!!!  I kid you not! …and that was only after they had passed us on the left and then cut in front of us!  The cycle to the right passed us on the right at the same time… unreal!!  You can also see the cycle on the far left right next to our front fender-- he is passing between us and the car on his right!  I’m telling you, they don’t have a brain.

Anyway, we decided we wanted to drive and see the Acropolis before we traveled north through the mountains to see the landscape and a few ruins at Delphi and then end up in Meteora by the day’s end.  So with “Mrs. GPS”, which I will say was one of the best decisions we made getting her when we rented our car!!!  We began our navigation to the Acropolis, following the map and directions provided we made our way to the left lane and had our blinker on to turn left, when out of the blue one of the cyclist’s came flying up behind us as we began to turn… Dennis could see what was happening and rather than turning he went on ahead a bit trying to avoid an accident… but to no avail– Wham, Mr. Crazy Cyclist ran right into our back bumper.  Dennis said he looked and could see the cycle flying up… and I am sure “Mr. Cycle Man’s” intention was to pass on the left (keeping in mind we were in the far left lane)… but instead he ended up crashing right into our back bumper once he saw we were turning!!   

Thank goodness he wasn’t hurt bad… maybe bunged his knee up a little and “scratched” the front fender on his cycle where he hit our bumper.  But, he managed to pick his cycle up and proceed to tell us he was calling the police because we were going to pay for his fender.  I looked at him and said, “hey, you ran into the back of us!”  He continued to state it was our fault that we didn’t have our signal on.  I knew I couldn’t argue with a crazy person and we weren’t in any hurry; we had a shady ledge to sit on, so we would just wait for Mr. Policeman!  In fact, couldn’t wait for him to get here!

Having no telephone, I walked to a nearby business and called Avis to tell them what happened… they said, “not to worry, we have full insurance!”  They also commented, “of course he’s trying to blame you, but not to worry, it is not your fault!”  I’m thinking okay, let’s just go!

There was not much conversation while we sat and waited on the police, but he had several buddies come and go and after about 2.5 hours his insurance man finally came… but we had yet to see the police – other than the 25 of them that just drove by in traffic, but not one of them attempted to stop.   I thought it was stupid he wanted the police there anyway – his fender was barely damaged

Hey Buddy, rub it out and move on!  It was your fault!

We had purchased our own insurance in case of this very thing, so we really didn't want to mess with him paying for anything, but we waited for that policeman he wanted, that never showed up!

After a while his insurance guy showed up and took a bit of information speaking basically no English… but he certainly understood when I told him I had called Avis and they told me not to worry that it was his fault and that we would just wait for the police!  He soon determined that he had all the information he needed and told us to go.  I bet he wanted us to go! … he didn’t’ want to pay for the rental car!

So with that “behind” us we went on our way, only to arrive at the Acropolis at 3:10 p.m. and finding out they closed at 3 p.m. on Saturdays.  We could only laugh!  We still managed to take a few pictures, but decided we would return to see it again when we could actually walk through it.

You can see those iron gates holding us back   :-(

I have to laugh when I look at the shorts I’m wearing… I bought them because we had no luggage… they are almost a “skort” but, in fact they are actually men’s swim trunks!  Lee, just more of my creativity!  I bought them because I could wash and dry them fast :-D  I’m not much of a shopper while traveling and the shorts work great!  I can laundry each evening by hand and they are dry and fresh for the next day!

Dennis and I have already had many laughs on this trip.   It is these trips that create memories!  It is  the first trip for us to lose our luggage, I think it is the first time for us to miss a connection, certainly it is the first time for us to be dropped from a flight, and the first time to have a wreck on vacation!  But with all that said and done -- we really are having fun!  You just have to take things in stride and sometimes, yes I do have my melt downs first, but then we do what we have to do and make the best of it.  The world offers so much for us to see and do and good things come from the inconveniences or bumps in our roads traveled!

Having no luck being able to walk through The Acropolis, we ventured over and climbed to the top of Areopagus Hill and what a view we had!  Here is a link that tells much more about Areopagus Hill, but couple things in short... this is documented to be where Apostle Paul gave one of his sermons; and Ares was supposed to have been tried here by the Gods for the murder of Poseidon's son, Alirrothios.   As you can see most every trip provides a history lesson.

View from Areopagus Hill (near the Acropolis)

You could see for miles.  Note there are ruins towards the bottom mid left and you can see the buildings and houses that fill the entire valley and it was extremely windy on top of that hill, I didn’t venture too close to the edge of the rocks. 

Oh, and that was a fun climb in flip-flops, sure do miss my tennis shoes!  Come on luggage, show up!!

Continued:  Drive to Delphi, Greece

Greek Dinner at Athen's Center Square...

June 29, 2012
Turkey/Greece

We chose a little restaurant called.... ummm see above,
I don't have those letters to type! 

 It was located in what I'll call "Restaurant Alley"!  The whole street was lined with tables, chairs and a sea of people.  We kept seeing everyone walking around with these Gyros rolled up in their hands and they looked delicious.  As we were being seated we saw this plate of "yummy" being served at the next table... we knew we wanted that!

Of course, it was a dish of some type of Greek Gyros... we ended up getting a mixture of beef, pork and lamb.  It served enough to feed four people, but the two of us managed to almost eat the whole thing and we still managed to par take in a couple of the Greek beers!

Our plate of "yummy"

It truly was enough for 4 people!

We were almost through with our meal when our little waiter brought us both a shot of "Raki", well it was more than a shot... in fact he told us too much for a shot, but to sip.  It was different, but we  both drank it all =)

We were just about through with our Raki when he brought us a big plate of Greek Yougart with fresh peaches in it and topped with honey, which we managed to eat along with our bread!

Being all fat and happy we walked back towards our hotel and managed to find our way up to the rooftop bar for a gorgeous view of the city!!!

...and what a view of the Acropolis by night!!!

We had another drink on the roof and I did some blogging then we went back to the room and enjoyed another shower.  I did laundry and washed everything we had... which was what we were wearing!!

I bought some shorts as we headed to the Center Square and I forgot...
DT had bought a Thunder shirt... but we had clean clothes the next day!

Loved the hair dryer

Continued:  Motorcycle Mania In Athens, Greece

A for Athens...

Yeah, we have arrived... and if you can believe I found this
sign posted on a hotel in the Athens Center Square
our first evening out!

June 29, 2012

Well, as you have probably guessed, we arrived without luggage!  Aaarrrggghhh!!!  But we were not going to allow that to spoil our trip.  We were originally scheduled to arrive 10:30 a.m but we got here at 2:30 p.m., so not too bad - considering our airport fiascos! ...but, I think we have both lost weight from all the running through the airports, so not a bad thing either :-D

We managed to get our lost luggage report filed and, Jimmy, the Gentleman at the Aegean Airlines counter (Oh, I forgot to tell you we changed Airlines in Munich); anyway, Jimmy assured us he would find our luggage and get it delivered to us.  He asked for the hotel name and address for the first night, which was the same for the 3rd night... so hopefully we would have it by day 3. (We are  elsewhere 2nd night, but if we get by 3rd night that is okay!)  Dennis seems to think "no problem, it will come";  but I am much more skeptical than he.  I began to think of all the stuff I didn't have... my electrical converter for one thing...and as you saw on the last blog -- my laptop battery was almost gone because I had no way to charge it!  We did stop and buy an iPhone charger, which I used in the Houston airport and was able to iChat with Ashley and can still do that here in Greece, as long as I have wi-fi -- pretty cool!  For those of you who don't know, it is kinda like texting but doesn't require data, so no roaming with iChat.

Another thing I miss, I was pretty stupid and separated and put my c-pap hose in the checked luggage only carrying the expensive portion the c-pap machine itself so it wouldn't be stolen... well, that was dumb not to have the hose or the plug converter... not doing me much good without the hose!  Oh well, I'm still alive...

We made our way to Avis Rental Car.  The guy at the car rental asked us if we wanted a Prius or a Mercedes... you can probably figure out which one we took -- Mercedes!

We managed to navigate our way to the hotel, and it was so nice that it wasn't raining and in the dark like in South Africa!  As we got near the hotel, we circled the block several times because our GPS kept sending us around the block... we finally just parked the car and began walking looking for this hotel we couldn't seem to find while driving!  Sure enough, there it was-- right there on that block we kept circling :-o

This is the whole frontage...
no wonder we missed it!

We got checked in at the Attalos Hotel and first thing we did was take a shower and I washed my underwear out with shampoo and dried them with the hair dryer that was provided.  After traveling for 2 days. we felt much better.. and yes, Lee Ann, I can get quite creative!  I said in my first blog of this travel that I brought some things I could just throw away as we went along... underwear was one of them; but, I really had not planned to throw "everything" away before we even got here!

After our shower, we went out for the evening, walked to the Center Square right by our hotel!  Lots was happening there...

People performed and everyone watched!

This mosque was one of the first things we saw

We then saw these ruins of Hadrian's Library undergoing renovations

More of Hadrian's Library

Again, Hadrian's Library

 I found this cat wondering through the grounds of the library...
loved his markings!

The Acropolis
We will have other pics, but was really cool to see this first thing!

More of the Athen's Center Square
Lots of "stuff" to buy!
Some of this might have "your" name on it!

Loved the character of this Greek man
He sat in a wheelchair, but he waved to me as I took his pic.

This woman had quite the head attire...
and she seemed to smoke her cigarette different than most!
Wait, maybe I caught her picking her nose, hmmm?

This was the back of her scarf...
figures the other lady walked by just as I took the picture.
I was going to take another pic... but she was gone!

I have few more pics of the eve, but I must get to bed for now.

We have had already another full day of ADVENTURE since arriving and blogging this post.  And I will say "adventure" really cannot begin to describe the way the 30th started!  We obviously have since bought an electrical converter and I am able to charge and use my computer and blog again...

Continued:  Greek Dinner

Arriving Munich, Germany...

June 29, 2012

This is one of the first things we saw at the airport in Munich, Germany... and it looked yummy, but no time to eat, we had a flight to catch!!

This Smorgasbord went on forever!!!

Flight was on time thankfully and we had quite a jaunt to get to our connecting gate, but DT refused to run this time.  We had to actually go out to the baggage area and then enter back through security…. Geeeeez, here we go again!  Out with the lap-top, c-pap, baggie of liquids, down the bottle of water real quickly… OOPS, forgot I had the little bottle of wine from the last flight – should have downed that really quickly too, but just gave it to the security ladies and told them to enjoy!

DT had to turn on his camera and they inspected the binoculars as well… BUT!!!!!  We did get to keep our shoes on!  My feet were so swollen from all the flights, I’m not sure I could have even gotten my flip-flops back on if I had taken them off!

Okay, on to the gate… of which I think was the furthest point we could have had to walk to board any plane in the airport!  We got there in ample time and stood in line to board… we then proceeded down several flights of stairs to the tarmac to load a bus – which reminded of us South Africa and our adventure at that airport, LOL.  Anyway, we got on the bus and the airport representative came onto the bus and paged a guy and then of course paged us!  I’m thinking… “don’t make me get off this bus that is going to the plane headed to Athens!”

She needed to tear some stub off of the back of our boarding pass… not sure why they didn’t do that when we boarded… maybe just so they could page us!  Anyway, the bus then proceeded to the airplane and of course DT is sitting in Row 24 and I am in business class Row 3!  Hey, something good happened!!!  Of course I have an empty seat beside me and request that DT be moved up to my row.  The flight attendant commented that he has economy ticket and I have business class… at which time she then looked at my ticket… yes, it was the same economy ticket that DT had!  The thought crossed my mind:  “Don’t make me go back to Row 24!”  The attendant proceeded to look at the gentleman’s ticket in the row across from me as well as everyone else sitting in he business class seating.

Within a few minutes, she with the assistance of another flight attendant, slides the curtain up placing it one row in front of me… I was just demoted to economy class!!!  I could have cared less as long as I didn’t have to get off that plane and thankfully I  did get to enjoy the extra leg room; and yes, DT did move up to my Row… so if you look long enough, you can always find something good in everything!

Time for take off… but, it was an hour later before we finally took off.  They were waiting on connecting flights to get in for passengers that were to be on our flight.  WHAT!!!!! THEY WERE HOLDING A PLANE FOR PASSENGERS WITH CONNECTING FLIGHTS… why didn’t they do that in Houston for us… we only needed 3 minutes!!!!!

Flight about to land, so guess I’ll close this blog and we’ll hope to have luggage at the Athens airport when we arrive… but I wouldn’t bet on it!

laptop battery almost gone... no time to proofread :-/

Continued:  A for Athens

Flight Adventure Continues in Toronto...

June 28, 2012

Adventure is to say the least!  We arrived into Toronto with 45 minutes to get to our next gate (changing airlines to Air Canada) and the flight attendant requested everyone please stay seated so that we could exit first.  She explained we had a tight connection but that it was doable if we could get off first …and to our amazement everyone did stay seated.  She along with a few others said we would have to run about a mile… and they weren’t kidding!!  Flip Flops on and our jogging pants we took off for the mile jaunt (which seemed like three miles).  We arrived at the gate and they were boarding.  Oh my gosh, WE MADE IT!!!  …well, kind of made it???  I checked in at the counter, she looked at my ticket and said yes they were boarding now.  We got in line and upon our turn to board, Dennis handed the guy is boarding pass along with his passport.  The Air Canada representative clicked and looked at his computer for several minutes, clicked some more and then looked through several of Dennis previous connecting flight receipts… we had so many, we really didn’t even know what flight we had just gotten off of!!! … the representative clicked around for several minutes and then handed Dennis his passport and boarding pass back and told Dennis that he “had previously been paged” and should go to the front counter.  I told the gentleman we were together and that I had already been to the kiosk counter… but yes, that is where I was directed as well.

Upon returning to the counter and telling the same lady we had just spoken to, that we were directed back to her, she took our ticket once again looked at it and said, “oh, that is you! …you are Tull”  I’m thinking, “that was me a few minutes ago too!”  She proceeded to tell us we had been dropped from the flight.  Now, you can imagine what was going through my mind!  No, it was not – “are you kidding me”.  It was more like “are you *%#!@   @%&$% kidding me!!!!”  Keeping our polite composure though we did explain that we wished we would have worn our tennis shoes and jogging shorts after that mile run!!  She smiled at our comment and said she was sorry, but the flight was full, so you can imagine how thrilled we were to hear that.  And to think, we thought we were actually going to get to Athens on time!  But, it was not happening on that plane!

She was very nice and commented since we had not arrived on the original flight an hour earlier, that we were dropped.  I have plenty to say to United – I think they dropped the ball and didn’t notify Air Canada that our flight had changed, so United is not on the top of my good list right now either.

But, our sweet Air Canada Representative, Georgia, said she could still get us to Athens through Munich, Germany arriving 4 hours later than we had planned to arrive, but at this point – we were just happy to think we could still get there!  We had began to think we would be spending the night in Toronto.

Georgia asked for our luggage receipts, which after a short period of frantic search I did finally remember where I had put them.  She worked diligently on the phone with someone trying to retrieve our luggage from the flight to get it on our new flight she was trying to schedule.  After quite a while, she explained that our luggage was not there… which did not surprise us!  She had us follow her from the gate kiosk to the main ticket counter.  She explained she had us booked to Munich, Germany, but she could not get confirmation for our connecting flight from Munich on to Athens, Greece, but commented she was sure we could be on that flight… the thought of being stranded in Munich was interesting!!!  At this point we just went with the possibility of our itinerary just looking different.

So keeping in mind that we have basically only ran through airports as if we were on the “Amazing Race” trying to get from one connection to the other… here in Toronto with the flight change and delay, this was our first chance to actually use a bathroom not on the plane!  And we took advantage of ordering some sushi and a drink at a little bar… we should have had several drinks, but we then scurried on our way to the boarding gate. 

Arriving at the gate, we were fortunate to see our sweet Georgia there working the counter again.  We just stayed to ourselves waiting to board when after quite a while Georgia called us to the counter… I’m thinking “oh no, now what?”  But she had good news and said our flight from Munich to Athens was confirmed and she gave us the boarding passes that we would need there. 

Okay, so we were on our way to Munich!  …but, still without any luggage thus far! Now, if we can just get some sleep on the plane as we travel overnight…

Sorry no picture…wish I had taken a picture of our “Sweet Georgia”.

Continues:  Arriving Munich

Houston - "Smouston"...

June 28, 2012

Well, we arrived with 15 minutes to exit the plane and get to the next gate, people were very kind and allowed us and another guy to exit fairly quickly… by the time we got off the plane we had 12 minutes to get from United Airlines at Terminal B to Air Canada at Terminal A to board our next flight.  Our only hope was that our next plane was delayed for some reason… don’t laugh, we could at least hope!  We looked like participants on the “Amazing Race” as we ran through the airport terminals, arriving at our gate 7 minutes before take off!!!  Only to hear the attendant say so very kindly “you just missed it!”  Are you kidding me!?!?  It’s not even time for take-off yet.  We could see the plane still sitting there!! He explained they have already pulled the gate away from the plane and if they pull it back to the plane they will be a fined by the FFA.  Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know the 10 min rule, but couldn’t you see we were in route and maybe hold the plane just a few minutes for us?!?   Well, that answer is “No!”  So, again, I am thinking “are you kidding me!?!  Well, that was not exactly what I was thinking; I had a few more words in my mind that didn’t come out of my mouth.

We caught our breath and looked at the options that Air Canada might suggest….  knowing, that it is United’s responsibility to re-book us and get us to Athens.  The Air Canada attendant directed us to Terminal C to talk with a United representative-- by now we have done the A-B-C Terminals.

Thank goodness there wasn’t a long line at United and we were thrilled to find that they had already re-booked us on another United flight that was leaving in 30 minutes… Geeez, why didn’t that guy at Air Canada tell us!!!!  Anyway, so here we go again back to Terminal B as quick as we could get there!  And was delighted to find that they had our boarding passes waiting at the gate kiosk.  We are thinking how lucky was that, because in Tulsa they told us there were no other United flights to Toronto today if we didn’t make our connection in Houston!! 

So with luck on our side, we boarded the plane immediately being seated in Row 4!!!  Which by the way, Row 4 was awesome, since we now only have 50 min (rather than 2 hours) to get off this plane and go through a small custom check-point in Toronto before flying to Greece.  Thank goodness we don’t have to get our checked luggage, it goes through direct.   And by now, I’m really hoping my luggage gets there with us!

Being seated on the plane we were trying to relax as we waited for takeoff…. and then we continued to sit and wait!  I’m thinking “oh no” we can’t be delayed again before this take off!!  Yep, 30 minutes and still sitting.  Finally, “take off” and soon thereafter the pilot announces we have 2 hours and 18 minutes before landing… we were thinking we would only have 30 minutes to connect, but after calculating the new arrival time we were still arriving close to scheduled time.  We ask the flight attendant to confirm landing time… she talked with the pilot and it looks like we do have 45 minutes; so just maybe with a little more luck on our side we might actually catch our last connection in Toronto for the overnight flight to Greece.   Okay, they just shaved another 5 minutes off our time we will have to get from point A to point B.

You gotta love to travel and the experience of the adventure just getting there!!  Guess, we’ll keep our fingers crossed again on this flight and until we land-- I really don’t want to stay in Toronto overnight :-(  Come on United Airlines!!!

Continues:  Flight in Toronto

In the Air, Europe Bound...

June 28, 2012

I haven't blogged in awhile, but here we (me and Dennis) are heading out for another adventure... we stopped by Ashley's for a ride to the airport... always a snap shot before we head out!

Deb and Dennis June 28, 2012

I begin this blog sitting on an airplane headed to Houston, hoping that we get there in time to make our connection to Toronto; which is where we will then make a connection to Athens, Greece.  That is, if we are lucky to make our connection in Houston.

Not a good start for our trip with the first flight being delayed 1 hour and 15 minutes out of Tulsa.  That will only give us 15 or 20 minutes to Change Airlines and get from one Terminal to the next.  We have already thought about what hotel we’re going to be staying at in Houston!!   But then we remembered we can run really fast when we need to, so we’re thinking positive and hoping the plane can make up some time in the air and we are planning on being on that connecting flight!  …nail biting all the way!

Barb, you of all people can understand our delay… we were waiting on a plane to come in from Denver, which was delayed because of the wild fires!  I do hope that those fires get under control and stay away from your home!

To preface some before leaving this morning (which we did get away from the house in plenty of time) which is a small miracle for me; we drove to Ashley’s and she took us to the airport.  We have the house alarm set, house sitter in place, guard dog ready to attack, and I think everything is as needed.   Thanks Nita, and I hope you guys enjoy the pool!!

We have planned this trip for a year– we will be staying in 10 different hotels, 3 flights from one country to another, 3 rental cars, and we will meet up with 4 different families in route the last half of our trip.  We have not seen some of these  friends since 1997, so it will be wonderful to see them.

I managed to start packing about 5pm yesterday, just a minor detail in the whole scheme of things.  I have good intentions to pack early and to pack light, but my suitcase always seems to be over weight… good thing Dennis always has space and weight to spare.  I blame it on my suitcase itself… it is heavier than most.  Fully packed, I weighed it in at exactly 50 pounds.  :-/

To avoid doing a lot of laundry, I’m planning to throw away some clothes as we travel and the snacks I brought will be eaten along the way… so I’ll have plenty of room to shop for a few things!  We are not big shoppers, but rather just enjoy seeing the country and how they live.

If all goes well and we find Wi-Fi, I plan to blog with some pictures.  We should arrive in Athens on the 29^th.  There is an 8-hour time difference... Greece is 8 hrs ahead.  If we make that connection I will be sleeping on the plane tonight!

We are arriving Houston with NO time to spare… keep your fingers crossed for us!

Continues: Houston-"Smouston"